Meet the ABVP men who’ve kept Guha away from Ahmedabad Univ

When historian Ramachandra Guha decided against becoming the Chair Professor of Humanities and director of the Gandhi Winter School at AU’s School of Arts and Sciences, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) took credit for the move. The BJP’s student wing, which aims to “bring nationalism back into the mainstream” demanded the university rescind the offer made to a man they believed indulged in “communist and divisive ideology”.

And spearheading the campaign were the trio of Pravin Desai, Kush Pandya and Nikhil Methiya – senior ABVP leaders.

When the trio joined the ABVP in 2011-12, Ramchandra Guha was holding a visiting position at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs. His large body of work, including the acclaimed ‘Gandhi Before India’ and ‘Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World’ (a two-volume biography of M K Gandhi), has earned him the honour of being considered one of the major historians of the late 20thand early 21stcenturies.

Yet, Desai, Pandya, Methiya and three other ABVP leaders submitted a memorandum to AU on October 19 opposing Guha’s appointment and claiming his writings “encouraged divisive tendencies and inspired anti-nationalist, separatist forces” in educational institutes like JNU in Delhi and Central University of Hyderabad.

The three men are top office-bearers in the students’ outfit and quite vocal about raising their voice against authorities in educational institutes and the university. . Pravin Desai is city general secretary, Kush Pandya is state joint secretary and Nikhil Methiya is State secretary. Together, they defend the extreme decisions made by the Sangathan.

Desai and Pandya hold MCom degrees from Gujarat University. However, they were never “good” students, according to their former classmates. “They took quite some time to pass two-year course,” confirmed his teachers.

‘Not good students’

Desai claims to have got his Master’s degree from Sree Narayana Guru College of Commerce. Those who know him from college say he was not good at academics and passed the two-year course following multiple attempts. He also had hold-overs in multiple subjects in college, they reveal.

“He was not a good student. In fact, he was someone who did not even have a basic understanding of issues. If you ask him to talk about current events, he would fumble. He is someone who pushed and scared people into doing what he wanted. It seems his skills are useful in the ABVP and it is working to his advantage,” said his former college mate, refusing to be named.

The strong-arm tactics of ABVP leaders

Manipulating univ system?

Like Desai, Pandya is also not known for his academic credentials. He was at the centre of a controversy last year during PhD admissions at Gujarat University. Pandya who scored 54.84% in MCom, applied for PhD admission. As per norm, a student needs to score 55% marks to apply for PhD course. NSUI member Hasmukh Chaudhry raised an issue when GU accepted his form even though he was not eligible. “He might have got through had we not raised an objection. A man like Pandya who tries to manipulate the system at the university would not know the importance of having a stalwart like Ramchandra Guha teach students in Gujarat. They just know to politicise an issue. They do not understand the importance of learning from such knowledgeable people because they themselves never paid any heed to studies,” asserts Chaudhary.

Supporting Sangathan

The third officer-bearer, Nikhil Methiya, is an engineer from Gujarat Technological University (GTU) and has his own start-up in drone application.

Methiya who is associated with ABVP since 2011 came to limelight only in 2014 within the Sanghathan, said those who know him. Recently when ABVP was in a spot for blackening a professor’s face in Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kutch University, he was the one who defended the perpetrators vigorously. He came out with a note stating reasons for blackening the faculty member’s face and alleged that the official was involved in cancelling names of students from the voter’s list.

Methiya is known as a good student and an ABVP member who is active when it comes to following the diktat of the Sangathan. However, people in Junagadh, from where he hails, do not remember him as an active student leader in college. “He took Purnakalin more than a year ago. In this, a person vows not to marry, or meet his family. He has to eat whatever is given to him by the Sangh,” says his teacher in Junagadh.

“Once he was asked not to enter his college in Junagadh. He took up the issue aggressively. However, no one remembers him having taken a lead in any other protest,” the teacher adds.

Gujarat is the land of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and symbol of unity. We do not want people like Guha who believes in divisive ideology. He has communist ideology and we do not want youth of Gujarat to fall for his ideology and hamper state’s peace.

Pravin Desai

Ihave seen his (Guha’s) tweets. He mentions that orange in national flag is Hindu colour, green is the colour of Muslim and white is colour of peace. He has painted the national flag in communal colours. We want good academicians to come to Gujarat but not people like him who have divisive ideology.

Kush Pandya

We went to AU to clear our views. We felt that if Guha comes to AU, he would mobilise students to his ideology. For example, he called it stupidity to give Bharat Ratna to Madan Mohan Malaviya. Are his thoughts or giving him Bharat Ratna stupidity? He has accused the Sangh of curbing freedom of speech. Such a man will mobilise youth in Gujarat by imposing his ideology.

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